


Wishing You Were Here

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21573595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Hannibal is starting a new life in Florence, trying to move past having his heart broken, only he keeps seeing Will everywhere, even though he’s not there.
Relationships: Anthony Dimmond/Hannibal Lecter, Bedelia Du Maurier/Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 25





	Wishing You Were Here

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during the beginning of the third season when Hannibal is settling in Florence. I don’t own Hannibal but for the past few months, it’s owned me.

“He’s beautiful.” 

The words made Bedelia freeze in place, eyes flickering over from Hannibal to their dangerous, perhaps about to be endangered guest. 

Anthony Dimmond lifted a piece of paper Hannibal had been drawing on. There was Will Graham with a pensive face, gazing with far away eyes upon the landscape where whatever martyrdom Jack Crawford urged him towards awaited him.

Hannibal hadn’t even realized he’d drawn Will. Careless of him, to forget such things. Even more careless to leave that picture out. 

“He was the love of my life.” Recklessness made Hannibal admit this out loud, glancing at Bedelia while he did. “He broke my heart as no one else has.”

“Did he, now?” Anthony glanced over at Bedelia. 

“I was aware of this passion long before my husband was.” Bedelia narrowed her eyes, shooting a glance at their guest before allowing them to rest upon Hannibal. “You might say our life here is an attempt to recover from all of this.”

“Guess the last party didn’t work out the way you’d hoped.” Anthony allowed a sly little smile to play across his face. “Unlucky for me.”

Hannibal smiled back, well aware this man was attracted to him, had been from the beginning. Perhaps they should have had a three-way, only the prospect seemed to make Bedelia uncomfortable. 

He didn’t wish to make Bedelia any more uncomfortable than she was already. After all, she was trying to help him to recover. In a way, here as his wife, she was acting as his therapist more than she ever had in Baltimore. 

After all she understood better than anyone. How when he’d turned for a moment to see Anthony, he’d seen Will Graham standing there. Looking at him, smiling at him. Ready to take his hand, accept Hannibal’s invitation into his world. 

Hannibal was finally away from Will, but he wasn’t truly free. Not when his heart skipped a beat every time a slender, dark-haired young man turned around, only to show his profile. A profile that wasn’t Will’s. 

Bedelia didn’t say anything after Anthony left. Not after expressing her surprise at Hannibal allowing the man to leave. She walked over to the sketch, glanced at it, before retreating into the bathroom. 

Yes, Bedelia DuMaurier understood better than anyone what Hannibal had left behind. She’d understood his feelings for Will Graham better than Hannibal Lecter had. 

He tried to distract himself the next day by taking a boat ride down the Arno by himself, enjoying the sunshine. He was only too aware of the empty space next to him, one Bedelia couldn’t fill, no matter how much he might enjoy her company. No matter how much she might understand. 

“I keep imagining how you’d react to this.” Will Graham wasn’t here, but it was only too easy to fill the space with him, a slight smile playing upon his lips, abstracted gaze absorbing the light on the water, the bridge, everything around him. 

“This is your world, Hannibal.” Will turned his head slightly, light reflecting off his brilliant eyes. “Not mine.”

“All you need is a river.” Hannibal smiled a little at the thought of Will Graham trying to fish in the Arno. “I wonder what you would make of all this.” 

The Uffizi, the Accademia, the Bargello, all the locations Hannibal Lecter had fallen in love with as a youth; particularly the Uffizi, what would it have been like to revisit them with Will at his side? What would Will’s vision, his empathy have revealed to him in front of the Primavera or the David? How would he have reacted to Michelangelo’s unfinished figures struggling to free themselves from the marble?

“You have your companion in this.” Will turned away, no longer looking at him. “Someone more accustomed to the lifestyle you’re leading.”

“It could have been you.” Hannibal studied his profile, the emotions playing over it, complex, yet seldom given expression. “I was looking forward to seeing it all again through your eyes.”

“Are you disappointed in me?” Will gave him one of those sideways, seductive glances which darted away and challenged Hannibal to follow. “I was always Jack’s as much as I was yours.”

Yes, this was true. 

“I wanted you to be mine.” Hannibal glanced at the sunlight, reflecting off the eyes of the man who wasn’t there. “You convinced me that you were.”

“Did I?” A tiny smile played across Will’s lips. “You would have gotten bored if I’d been that easy. Just as you’re bored now.”

He left, disappearing from the space where he’d never been, leaving Hannibal to gaze at that empty spot.

As Dr. Fell, Hannibal Lecter had everything he’d ever wanted; wealth, a job which allowed him to use his talents, the city he’d fallen in love with a boy, and a beautiful wife at his side who’d make quite a feast some day. Everything a man of his appetites and interests could ever desire. 

Everything except Will Graham. 

Will was right. He was bored. He missed the game he’d played with Will Graham and Jack Crawford, dangerous to life and freedom as it had been. He missed them. 

Ah, well, there were things he could do to liven things up. Things which might even catch the eye of his former companions from afar, drawing them back to him.

He’d spent a lot of time and effort on Will Graham. He wasn’t ready to let him go, not yet. It was time to let Will know exactly how he felt in a way that was uniquely him, solving the problem that was Anthony once and for all. 

Will’s imagination would do the rest. 

Hannibal found himself smiling in a way he hadn’t since he’d left Baltimore. Strange how thinking about Will Graham made him feel alive like nothing else. 

He was finally starting to feel young again.


End file.
